BOOKS

The Return of the Player

Griffin Mill, the savage anti-hero of The Player, returns in this piercing satire of twenty-first century Hollywood.

When we last saw film executive Griffin Mill, fifteen years ago, he had just got away with murder. Now he’s fifty-two, and down to his last $6 million. Divorce and stress have made him impotent, he’s sure that global warming is going to destroy the planet – and his career has stalled. He needs to get out of Hollywood. But Mill needs an escape route, a safe haven – a private island somewhere in the south pacific with an airstrip and high ground. He has one last, desperate plan. He will convince almost-billionaire Phil Ginsberg (who aspires to ‘really savage wealth’) to join him for one final project – a film about the thing Hollywood understands best: money.

The Return of the Player is a bril­liant, incisive and candid satire of contemporary society spinning out of control.

REVIEWS

Tolkin remains impressive as a scorched-earth social satirist.Janet MaslinNew York Times

A wicked fever dream of a novel.Tom NolanSan Francisco Chronicle

Tolkin utterly captures the most salient quality of life in Hollywood: the bowel-shaking fear that underlies everything.Seth GreenlandLos Angeles Times